Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett, Conor McGregor's appeal, Khamzat Chimaev lands stateside | The Craic

The Ariel Helwani Show

The Craic is back! Petesy Carroll, Chuck Mindenhall, and Ben Fowlkes return as usual, and kick things off by breaking down Ilia Topuria’s newly minted no. 1 spot in the official Uncrowned pound-for-pound rankings (4:03).

Shifting to what’s next for Topuria, Petesy and the gang weigh in on Paddy Pimblett, Justin Gaejthe, and Arman Tsarukyan as potential contenders for the lightweight champion (10:30).

Conor McGregor is back in the headlines. The former champ withdrew his application to introduce new evidence in his ongoing appeal. The guys discuss the latest in McGregor’s disappointing run of recent news cycles (30:52).

Looking forward to UFC 319, the trio celebrate the good news of Khamzat Chimaev finally landing on U.S. soil; a reassuring sign that his middleweight clash with Dricus Du Plessis is on track (38:10).

The UFC also recently announced UFC 321’s return to Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The crew debate which championship fight will top the card, with Islam Makhachev vs. Jack Della Maddalena being the likely frontrunner (49:26).

Another middleweight making waves is Sean Strickland, who was caught in a bizarre in-cage brawl at a local MMA event. The trio break down the wild footage of the incident (57:30).

To wrap up the show, Petesy gets the guys’ takes on Jake Paul officially becoming a ranked WBA cruiserweight, and talk Ben’s trip to Seattle to see Wu-Tang live (1:05:28).